Only Your Love Can Save Me
by Aerie elf
Summary: When the power of the Summon Spirits of the united world is dwindling and the Human and Elven races are endangered, the world will turn to Sheena - a failure who has lost all her power, and faith in herself. She will turn to two men who will help her embrace her destiny,
1. The Failure and The Saviour

* * *

**Aerie Elf here. This is my first Tales fic and I haven't quite finished the game yet so there may be a few mistakes in the background of the story. If there are and you can correct them, please let me know so I can amend them; I love this story so I wouldn't want to discredit it. This story is set after the World Regeneration, where the two worlds have been united. Please feel free to review and give me some pointers, or any other comments you'd like to make about the story; any sort of feedback will help ^^.**

**_Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia, its' characters, or any affiliated items [even though I would love to take the credit :'(]_**

* * *

****

Only Your Love Can Save Me

_Aerie Elf  
_

..oOo..

_**The Failure and The Saviour**_

..oOo..

Sheena's back stiffened and all of her muscles tensed as she forced all of her concentration to channel through her body and flow into the magic within the cards. Eyes squinted in pure focus; she didn't notice the shudder of the card in front of her.

"Ugh! I can't do it!" She pummelled her fists hard into the ground and growled almost wildly.

After five minutes of soothing herself and drawing on all of her Mizuho taught techniques in self control; Sheena began attempting to command the card again. Failure was the result, as it had been every day since the World Regeneration. Another vexing and hissing sound could be heard from the grassy knoll where Sheena had been practising her cardistic ritual arts every day for five years.

"Sheena, dear, are you alright?" One of the ladies from Mizuho called to her. She scoffed, 'No. I'm Pathetic!' but quickly forced a smile and nodded enthusiastically – well, fake enthusiasm was still enthusiasm as far as she was concerned. The woman smiled; genuine and pure, then walked on towards where her son was helping her to carry wood for a fire.

Sometimes Sheena could envy the simplicity of her life; she would get up of a morning, feed her family, raise her child, perform her duties as a Mizuho house maiden, and then sleep; repeating this cycle every day as though it had just as much meaning as the day before it. Sheena felt that her life had always been a little bit more complicated than that; Summon Spirits, assassination, World Regeneration – all of them the summary of her life thus far. All of them to some degree or another told tale of her failure - ALL of them.

"Take a break Sheena, you've been working at it for years, it won't kill you to give it a rest for five minutes" Konid was new to the ways of Mizuho, and as such he didn't know a great deal about Sheena's past; he didn't harbour the same silent hatred and anger towards her as the other villagers, to him, she was just another Ninja.

"Look, I know you're trying to help, but don't; this is something I used to be able to do, I can't just let it go without trying to bring it back. Corrine didn't do what he did so that I could give up that easily…" Sheena felt her heart crack just a fraction more every time she failed to channel her power; every failure to attain and train her power, was a failure to Corrine.

"I haven't been here long enough to know what you're talking about, and I can't pretend that I know what you are trying to do, but…" He trailed off, evidently left without any further positive comment to make. Sheena could truly despise him for his ignorance; it seemed that everyone else was well aware of the times she had failed. But that in itself was a reason that she should at least try to like him.

"Sheena…"

"A long time ago – a lifetime ago – I could turn paper into cards with magical blessings. It is an old Mizuho ritualistic power that has protected and aided our Ninjas for centuries. I was the last one who could do it; but I did it better than most of the legends. Not only could I create the cards, I could control them; releasing my power and energy into them and moving them with my mind. I could hold a card in the air with my hand, then let it go, reaching out to it again, I could move it with my hands without disrupting the energy flow that maintained the levitation. But that was a long time ago…" Her sentence trailed off into many great, but painful memories.

Konid gaped at her in amazement. His mouth opened and closed as though to speak, but all that escaped his lips were uncontrollable squeaks and mutters. Sheena placed a finger to his lips, ensuring that he would give himself some time to compose and start talking coherently. His reaction was somewhat different to what Sheena had expected; he blushed.

It was like a vortex opening and threatening to suck you in, after so many years of being the failure you would almost jump willingly into a painful and half-real experience. She wanted to be appreciated, she wanted to feel special, and she wanted to be… loved. But not by him, that would be too easy; it would be wrong.

"Konid I didn't mean… Well the thing is…" She stuttered and tripped over her own words; it was hard to refuse the type of unconditional sentiment he was offering; he was young, naïve, and she could tell from the look in his eyes that he thought it was love. But it wasn't – it couldn't be – not with her.

"I know I'm not good enough for you, you're mesmerising, funny, smart, and more beautiful than any woman I have ever seen, and I… well I…" Sheena finished for him "are too young, and too pure to be with someone like me" She smiled though, she couldn't help it; he was sweet.

His face looked horrified however, as though he had just heard the most disgusting thing had happened, Sheena had to backtrack to come up with some explanation for his reaction.

"Are you saying that you… with another man… you can't…. I thought… the vice – chief assured me that you…" So that was what he thought she meant. She placed both hands firmly on his shoulders, his continuous babble however forced her to reconsider and place one hand over his mouth.

"You misunderstand. You have a pure heart; you have only loved with pure loyalty and devotion before. My heart is not that healthy, and it probably never will be. I could not take a pure heart such as yours, and make it the semblance of mine. You must understand, I wouldn't do it on purpose, but I would do it. I'm sorry" Her words stung her as much as they stung him. His face was a mask of disappointment, and without doing so intentionally, she had already made his heart a fraction more like hers. Retreating swiftly within herself, Sheena removed her hands from Konid's body and let her legs carry her across the field, over the wooden wall around Mizuho and into the surrounding planes.

She needed to be alone.

The air was stagnant; nothing was pushing against her will to flee from Mizuho. From Konid. From herself. Arms spread out like a bird and back parallel with the ground, Sheena moved with frightening speed; creating her own wind as she flew across the open planes.

Reaching the outer areas of the forest, she found her favourite tree. Standing at the base of the tree she could crane her neck right up, and still not be able to see the tallest branches. It reached to the heavens, and that reassurance comforted Sheena's mind. She took on step closer to the tree; standing on top of the roots that grew wildly at the base – not a metre from the trunk – she used them as a launch pad as she leapt to the closest branch. Reaching out with both hands, Sheena grabbed the branch with both hands, pulling herself up with enough force to spring into a standing position.

As a ninja, Sheena had more than mere balance; she had been trained heavily in these aerobatic techniques and rigorously drilled to be flexible, agile and swift. She reached a branch almost three quarters of the way up the tree, were two branches intertwined forming a comfortable area where Sheena often came to sit and think, or even sleep on certain nights.

She lay on her back in the nook between the two branches, arms and legs crossed neatly without thought. Staring straight ahead, she could see through the canopy of the tree, to the sky which was beginning to cloud heavily. Sheena smiled with great joy; Volt.

Although she had failed him once before, the years after their pact they came to understand each other and spoke through action. Now, whenever lighting covered Tethe'alla, Sheena knew that volt was watching over her and protecting her. On the nights of Volt's storms, Sheena slept in the tree so that she could be as close to the spirit that was still with her, as possible.

For many years the other Summon Spirits were quiet. Light breeze and calm waters were wonderful for the rest of the world, but for Sheena they were loneliness and pain. The earth needed something more than just meek and mild; it needed the dangerous and the wild to demonstrate the full meaning of life and living. Now, Sheena lived for the storm, its danger and its strength; it was Volt.

As the storm came over, the tree pulled tighter together to keep the rain from Sheena's face; everything in this world was magic when you could understand its power, and the spirit behind it. The full rage of the storm would scare most people, but it helped Sheena to clear her mind and think about things separately. Now she could give thought to Konid.

He was only young, and younger than she was was quite young. He didn't understand the world yet. He hadn't faced disappointment. He hadn't felt the harsh criticisms that followed drastic failure. He hadn't felt the pangs of unrequited love. But she had, she had loved so naively before. So wholly did she give herself to someone; pinning all her hopes and dreams on them. But her pursuit of that love, her ability to make someone love her back, to convince them that she was the one they should really love, were just more failures to add to the list.

She couldn't explain well enough to Konid, but she wanted him to understand that unless she could be loved by this man, she really couldn't be loved at all. She couldn't return the love, because she wouldn't feel it the way he did. It had to be him. It couldn't be anyone else.

With that thought, the raging thunder rolling over the lands, and lightning lighting the skies, Sheena fell into a deep slumber; the last one she would have for a long while.

..oOo..

"_Sheena_" A whisper, young and gentle; but mature.

"_Sheena_" It roused Sheena from her sleep. Looking around, she could see that the voice hadn't belonged to a human; it was Sylph. They were trying to tell her something, but she couldn't hear them anymore.

Holding up her last card of summoning, Sheena held it high to the heavens, calling upon the power of wind to come to her. The card floated into the air, glowing lightly. Hovering for a moment, the card's glow began to falter, and Sheena's heart cracked in despair; the card began to emit smoke, and fell to the ground – black.

"Sylph!" She screamed to the summon spirit.

"Sylph, please! I'm trying to get to you! I'm trying to hear you, please speak to me!" Sheena's voice called out helplessly to thin air. "Sylph…" She had tried to get to them, but she had failed; just like the million times before.

Hanging her head in despair and shame, Sheena's tears slid cool and slick down her cheeks. She could taste the salt from the ones she didn't wipe away, and feel the slippery moisture that began to cover her neck. She couldn't bear this disappointment, she couldn't take this neglect.

Leaping from the branch where she was, Sheena plummeted to the ground, swift and soundless. She did not scream or yelp, and she was not afraid of hitting the ground at maximum acceleration. She was worried that she couldn't fight her basic human instinct; survival.

Falling swiftly, and almost gracefully, Sheena couldn't stop herself from holding out her arms at the right moment to grab the branch closest to the ground, force her body to swing around the branch like an acrobat, and land on her feet. Or, that was what normally would have happened. This time, there was an obstacle in the way of her feet and the uneven roots of the large tree.

Sheena saw red, and then felt herself fall hard into something and go flying into the undergrowth of the tree. Doing a mental check before pulling herself up, she deduced that she was ok, but what was…?

"Sheena?! What were you thinking?!?!?!?!?!" An angry growl came from the male laying almost beside her. So that was what she had hit.

"Look Konid wasn't doing anything stupid alright; I was just trying t-"

"Konid? Ummm…" Confusion was more than present in the somewhat familiar voice. Sheena turned towards the voice she had fallen into to. Her eyes were wide with surprise; he was really here with her. She hadn't seen any of them for years, and yet here he was…

"Lloyd?!"

..oOo..

* * *

**So there is the first chapter, it's kind of short, but I needed to get it started so people could read it and let me know whether or not it was worth writting. Please review and let me know what you think, what you do/don't like about it, and any constructive criticism you may have. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it :D**

_Aerie Elf_

* * *


	2. ReIntroduced to Need

* * *

**Aerie Elf back again. Alrighty this was a pretty quick update, but I can't promise it will be this quick in the future :P I had a sudden urge to get the story really really started, but we still aren't there yet, so please be patient :) Thanks for reviewing guys, especially Celsius009 and Sworddude who helped me to fill in a few holes in the story and try to perfect the descriptions to a higher level. I just realised that Celcius noticed on my profile I said I had a cynical view of love, but don't let that scare you *insert long neurotic story about how new boyfriend has changed my view on love* I love romance, it's what makes stories worth reading for me.**

**Alrighty well on with the next chapter, I tried to make it longer for you guys, so there is more to read, but for most people I hope that's a good thing :P Anyway, enjoy, and please review again ^^**

* * *

**Only Your Love Can Save Me**

_Aerie Elf_

:..oOo..:

**_Re-Introduced To Need_**

:..oOo..:

"Yeah… Who did you think it was?" His expression was genuinely quizzical; ever the Lloyd Sheena remembered.

"Ah… No one, I'm just surprised to see you here… I mean, after the World Regeneration, you stayed in Sylvarant, and I came back to Mizuho…" She trailed off into a self induced silence. Mizuho had intended to leave for Sylvarant; a new start for the people. But the connections in Tethe'alla were too valuable to give up, instead Mizuho decided to begin sending informants to Sylvarant in small increments in order to establish a world-wide secret service network. Or something like that.

"Well, since the worlds have been united, and it's a simple matter of boats to get here, I'm kinda surprised that you're surprised to see me here" Lloyd's state-the-obvious tone embarrassed Sheena; his frank nature often made her feel stupid for thinking between the lines and reading all of the implications. She couldn't help this instinct however, she was an informant of Mizuho as well at one stage; she needed to be able to read everything about people with the smallest amount of information.

"I guess… But still, what brings you to Mizuho? Hidden out in the middle of nowhere, it doesn't exactly strike me as a captivating place for a vacation" The underlying mockery went completely over Lloyd's head.

"I don't think so, besides, you were here, so it was worth visiting" His smile was broad and genuine. Even though he had aged, it was still innocent and childish sometimes; Sheena smiled back.

"Do you want to visit the village?" She put into the stretching silence quickly; she wanted to divert from his previous comment.

"Yeah ok, I haven't been there in ages, let's go!" Despite the fact that this was merely Lloyd's initial enthusiasm for every task, Sheena could hear the almost unidentifiable undercurrent of falseness; she knew too well the sound of fake enthusiasm, it had become her trademark. She didn't feel that she could bring herself to ask him why, there was something about his aura that suggested he would deny it, and she wasn't about to interrogate the only person on the planet that she could talk to right now.

Lloyd stood up and offered her a hand to get up, but Sheena shot up into a standing position without hassle and smirked. Lloyd shrugged and chuckled at her, he knew that she could be quite stubborn when she wanted to be; when she was hell bent on something, there was nothing that could stop her. But she never seemed to realise that.

"Race ya?" He chortled. Sheena's head cocked to one side hands on hips, as she looked at him in utter disbelief. "I'll give you a head start if you want" he grinned manically, provoking her. As he had predicted, Sheena's eyes went wide, veins popping out of her neck and chest, and he could have sworn that there was enough magic within her for smoke to begin fuming from her ears. Turning on his heel, Lloyd forced his strongest leg against the ground and sprang into his fastest sprint in the direction of Mizuho.

Sheena was still standing there fuming when Lloyd darted off; only her pride was able to force her into flight after him. Her run could only be called flight compared to Lloyd's. His strides here even, strong, and strategic; but Sheena's feet moved at what appeared the speed of a hummingbird's wings. Her legs were thinner and travelled through the air faster, smaller steps at faster speeds meant greater accuracy and more efficient use of her muscles. Arms spread like a bird, she rode whatever wind that swirled around her, testing its direction and moving herself to best flow with it, rather than struggle against it. From Lloyd's point of view, she was uncatchable.

Coming up to the walls of Mizuho Sheena leapt straight at it. Lloyd's eyes bulged and he almost halted immediately, his heart threatening to escape through his mouth. He watched as she pushed her feet against the wall, bouncing herself off it towards the nearest tree, landing on a high branch and jumping softly over the large walls that hid Mizuho from the rest of the world. Relief washed over him as he heard her scoff loudly from the other side of the wall; he knew as well as she did that he was never going to beat her here, but that wasn't the point. This was distracting, for both of them.

Sheena met Lloyd at the entrance to the town, smirking almost arrogantly at him. Lloyd had beaten her in battles of strength before, during the World Regeneration; she wasn't about to let him have agility too. Lloyd shrugged again and walked off into the town to see what it had become now, as he passed his arm brushed against Sheena's. She got goose bumps; it was the first gentle contact she had had with a male for a long time. But Lloyd didn't even seem to notice; his eyes looked far away and distracted when he departed. Sheena wondered why, but again, she couldn't bring herself to ask him; maybe she wasn't ready to face the answers he would give her.

No. She wasn't. She was sure she wasn't.

:..oOo..:

The next few days Lloyd remained in Mizuho, or at least in that general area. It seemed as though he had detached himself from people a great deal since they had last met; he still knew how to interact and he still had all of the interpersonal skills anyone could wish for, but it was as though he wanted to be alone. He usually only came inside the walls of Mizuho to sleep, and that was long after the rest of the residents had put themselves to bed. Sheena observed his lifestyle patterns intently for this time, trying to figure out what had happened to him. Lloyd was always bored easily, but this wasn't boredom, this was something else completely.

From what she could see, Lloyd kept himself busy every day, not ever allowing for a spare moment. He got up early and hunted in the nearby forests for his food, cooking it up roughly and then doing endurance training. His course was always different, running straight through the thicker forests around Mizuho at speeds that would be dangerous, even for Sheena, because of the hidden roots, trees and branches that threatened unwary feet. But Lloyd didn't ever seem to fall, he brought himself to a level that was pure instinctual; leaping out of the way of trees and running as though he was being chased by his worst nightmare.

After this ordeal which Sheena deemed almost completely unnecessary, he would practice with his swords. Again this seemed rather instinctual; focus completely on the swords and the threat they posed if he made one wrong move, one mistake. That Sheena didn't understand; it would be so easy to make just one small mistake and pay dearly... that she understood completely. Usually by this time, Lloyd had skipped lunch, and went hunting again for dinner, cooking it roughly yet again, and wolfing it down quickly before heading back into the forest for a combination of endurance and sword play training. Sheena could barely bring herself to watch this, and so most of the time she waited in the trees closest to the Mizuho gates for him to stagger back with bruises, scratches, dripping blood from various wounds, and almost falling over his own feet with exhaustion.

She wanted to go to him, to bandage him up, to do something! But there's was something in his eyes, and in the way he held himself high when he was obviously so low, that said he wanted to be left alone. She knew how that felt, even though she used to have Corrine, she needed to be by herself; anyone else could only hurt you, or you could hurt them…

Lloyd could feel the eyes that watched him; he had been training himself for the past five years to enhance his senses, and to null his reliance on others. He didn't need his eyes to hear the soft Ninja slippers that shifted lightly – subconsciously – to maintain balance, to smell the scent of a female, to feel the eyes – not ravenous or menacing – soft and watchful. He knew she was there, he had known since the first night, and he knew she meant no harm, but he couldn't afford for her to ask questions; whether he answered or not, her questions would force him to think about things he'd been avoiding for years.

He didn't look at her; he let her think that he had no idea she was there. She was a skilled Ninja and Mizuho informant, so it was likely that he wouldn't know, but he wasn't an average person either.

Hobbling to his room, Lloyd heaved a large sigh as he lay down on the bed. For most of the day it was easy to occupy one's mind with other things; things that could be deemed necessary for the sake of justification. Training, hunting, feasting – anything, everything could be made into a serious task that would ensure there was no time for idol thought. But at night it was harder.

He tried to exhaust himself so that as soon as his head hit the feathered pillow he would fall into slumber, but even that wasn't an escape. People said that dreams were conjured by thoughts, emotion and imagination, and even if you were sleeping, you're brain channelled all the thoughts and emotions you could hide from others into alternate past, present and future circumstances. Sometimes they were purely fictional and made no sense at all, and often you forgot whatever it was you dreamed the night before. But not for Lloyd. He remembered them all too well.

:..oOo..:

Watching Lloyd disappear inside the small house of Mizuho, Sheena felt a strong urge to get out and see the ocean; there was something about Lloyd's solitude that made her want to be alone there. Or was it that the ocean was something she associated with loneliness?

Jumping down from the tree she braced herself to land, arms spread and knees bending perfectly at the opportune moment, she landed almost soundlessly. Stretching out her limbs to ensure they were ready for the journey ahead, Sheena thought maybe she should give notice as to where she would be, but decided it was too late for any of her people to be up and stuck out towards the ocean on her own.

:..oOo..:

Lloyd shot upright, his body pouring with sweat and shaking uncontrollably. He had been having the same dreams again; it was as though impending doom was haunting his dreams. Most of the time the dreams were trivial – upsetting and aggravating - but trivial; sometimes, however, they were far from the ones originating from petty jealousy and hatred.

He had used up the diversions that a new place had provided; now it was time to leave Mizuho. Packing swiftly the few belongings he had that weren't already on his back, Lloyd prepared himself for a short goodbye and a long journey to the tower of thunder; stopping in at the remains of Ozette and camping out in a clearance to break the journey. The tower would provide him with diversion for a healthy length of time, and the elemental challengers that awaited there would keep him on his toes until he collapsed.

Perfect.

Double checking that all of the supplies were accurate and would last, Lloyd remembered the last thing he had to do before he left. He had to say goodbye to Sheena. But how could he tell her that he was done already? Having easily exhausted enthusiasm wasn't exactly what she deserved to hear. She had provided him with a place to stay, food to eat, and watchful eyes… She deserved better than 'boredom'.

He ran his hand through his hair in frustration with himself; why was it all this complicated. It was only by pure luck that he heard the commotion a young man was creating in the centre of Mizuho. He was screaming at people randomly, but it seemed to be about the same thing. Not exactly coherent – he was frenzied and panicked beyond recognition.

"Why doesn't anyone know where she is?"

"Calm down my child"

"Why isn't she made to report in before she leaves?"

"Sheena isn't a child!"

Sheena!

Lloyd flung open the door and barged through the crowd to the centre where the young man and the elder were arguing pointlessly about the whereabouts of Sheena. She always disappeared, and they were right, she wasn't a child, but he had to say goodbye.

"What happened to Sheena?" He queried.

"What is it to you?!" The young man snapped at him.

"Listen buddy, Sheena is important to me, and I need to know where she is" His voice wavered slightly, but he tried to remain calm.

"Important huh? Well you're an outsider, and I don't trust you, what makes you think I'll tell you?" Arrogance stained his words.

"Years of experience with swords that could sever your vital organs if something happens to Sheena because you didn't tell me where she was" Lloyd shot at him menacingly.

"Oooohhhh, is that a threat?" He sounded almost amused with himself.

"It's a promise"

"Bring it on!" The Ninja drew his weapons and raced towards Lloyd at alarming speeds.

"Enough" Lloyd whispered to himself.

Springing over the head of the Ninja, Lloyd unsheathed his sword in midair, and landing behind the Ninja swivelling on his heel with sword extended to full length; it pressed hard against the Ninja's throat. He made it clear that he had no time for these games, Sheena could be in danger.

"Easy! Easy!" The words choked out in panic.

"I'll ask you one more time: What happened to Sheena?"

"She disappeared during the night, and no one has seen her since. Usually she goes to that big stupid tree and comes back by this time, but today she didn't come back. I went personally to check if she as there, but she's not, and she didn't tell anyone where she was going last nig-"

Lloyd didn't bother with the rest of what he had to say, it was only wasting more time that Sheena might not have to waste. He raced back to the house, dumping all of his unnecessary travel gear and headed for the tree outside the gate where she watched him come back of a night.

There he saw no sign of her, at first. Sheena was in the tree, so she had to come down, and after years of travelling with her, Lloyd knew she would have done something no other human could do to get down. Staring at the tree, he estimated the place where she would have stood; where the branch was thickest and provided the most support. Then assumed she jumped from there, he guessed as to the area she would have landed, give or take a third of a metre radius; Sheena was always dead on with her positioning.

As he had assumed, there were prints from the balls of her feet; obviously she landed on them for silence and maximum balance. From there it was hard to track her, since Lloyd was no tracker even with his training. But he hunted often enough, and even though Sheena looked and moved like a feather on the wind, she was still by gravitational law a human and weighed enough to imprint on the ground.

Following the trail of footsteps Sheena had left fresh for him the night before, Lloyd found himself headed straight for lake near Mizuho. That would prove to be quite disastrous for tracking, but lucky she seemed to have walked around for most part, and headed along the river, and again towards water. The ocean?

"You're Lloyd Irving aren't you?" A cloaked figure inquired. Eager to be gone Lloyd gave him a straight answer and began to walk straight past the man, not asking who he was, or why he wanted to know. He had to find Sheena.

A stinging apex of pain rose from his back and he screamed in agony as the hooded figure slashed his back with a small dagger. If Lloyd had not been in such a hurry, the swing could have been lethal. He turned to the figure, but they were already beginning to thrust. Jumping backwards, pain shot through Lloyd from the gaping wound on his back, but he drew his swords and prepared himself for battle; this was his only option.

He had to find Sheena.

:..oOo..:

Sheena sat knees hugged close to her chest as she mourned for the sea and the earth. They were both lonely, just like she was. But that they were lonely… made her more alone. She watched as the water sat still, all shine and shimmer gone from it; Undine was no longer here. Softly she scooped a handful of dirt into her palm and let it sift through her fingers; the nutrients of the soil and its foundation were gone; Gnome wasn't here either.

Tears trickled down her face as she remembered the voice of Sylph calling to her days ago. She hadn't noticed it then, but it was urgent and desperate; they had needed her, but she had failed them again. The pain that engulfed her heart was more powerful than anything she had experienced, and she began to wonder whether it might suffocate her heart and stop it from beating. She felt as though if she didn't make it beat, the pain would shut it down for good.

She tried to remember the things Corrine would say once; before he had sacrificed himself to save her. Even though he had taken a new form and he said he was still with her, he wasn't here; she was alone. It didn't matter what people said, they could smile and speak words that said they would provide a sanctuary for your lonely heart; but in the end words were not enough to stop your suffering. She needed so much more than words right now, but she didn't even have those.

The sound of her sobs resonating through her ears made Sheena completely unaware of Lloyd's presence with her by the ocean until he collapsed to ground suddenly, unconscious and bleeding. Sheena heard the thump, and sprang to her feet, turning swiftly in a defensive position. When she realised that Lloyd lay before her, clothes torn neatly, blood gushing out of various wounds on his body, and breathing only lightly, she became quite frenzied with panic and worry.

At first all she could do was stare, then call to him helplessly, trying to get a response. She had no idea what – or rather who – had done this to him, and panic blinded her from the fact that that person may still be following him. After he wouldn't respond her panic was only heightened, and all she could think to do was grab Lloyd, arms looped underneath his arms, and linked across his chest, and drag him back to Mizuho.

Sheena wasn't weak by any means, but she wasn't physically strong like Lloyd; and her speed wasn't going to help her now. Pulling him along slowly all she could think of was putting another foot behind the other as she dragged him backwards, head turning right and left frantically to check that no one was coming and that they weren't going to walk into anything.

His weight was more than he looked; he had grown and filled out quite a lot since their travels of the World Regeneration. Trivial thoughts and associations like this seemed to help her find the calm, and strength in, herself that she needed to make it back to Mizuho. Back then they had travelled together for years, training and battling together, they had a common goal; to save the worlds of Sylvarant and Tethe'alla from their battle to reap each other's mana. Since then the two worlds were forced into the same world where they remained as two continents, with multiple sub-continents. Their journey had ended shortly after that, and because the worlds were combined most people went back to their homes.

Sheena hadn't really wanted to go back to Mizuho, but after what had happened with Zelos, she couldn't bring herself to stay in Sylvarant. She couldn't chance running into him; she wasn't strong enough to deal with that. Instead she hid herself away in Mizuho, though people there were still rather confused about her, and even harboured hatred towards her for her past failures; there she knew that she was safe from Zelos, and safe from that pain. Mizuho was a small enough town that she could hide herself from the people there too, and thus hide herself from the world. If she could hide from the world, then she wouldn't have to hide her emotions the entire time; she could express them the only way she knew how right now.

She could cry.

And she did. By isolating herself, she knew she had brought loneliness upon herself. She had made herself the only person, and so she was alone and suffered from that pain. A summoner is never alone though, so it wasn't so bad to begin with. But slowly the spirits were appearing less and less, and she lost her power to call on them and the power of her people's ancient magics. Now she had no one, and nothing, and it was all her fault.

But here was Lloyd; unconscious and probably dying in her arms. Though they hadn't spoken a great deal, she could see that he suffered too; and he chose to suffer alone as well. He was just like her, and for some reason that made her feel less alone; knowing that someone else suffered as she did, and chose not to put that on other's shoulders. She couldn't let the only person left in the world that might understand her die. She couldn't let the only other person she knew and cared for come to an untimely end. It couldn't be this way.

Steely determination to save Lloyd was all that kept Sheena's feet moving. She was beyond thinking at this point, and the sun was already down. But she could see Mizuho on the horizon, and that gave her strength to keep walking. She was close. He would be ok.

Arriving at the village square with a body trailing blood, Sheena got the immediate attention she prayed for. Explaining her position to the local herbalist and shaman, she felt almost happy. But then the bad news came.

"I can bandage him, and provide salves, but I can't make any promises. I'm sorry Sheena…" The old woman's voice was layered with sadness and promise of bad things to come.

"What? You mean you can't save him?!" Panic was rising again, this time worse than before.

"I'm sorry child, but this is beyond my power to heal…" He was an outsider, so the words didn't even touch Sheena. She knew that this woman didn't feel enough sympathy for the dying man before her.

"You have to help him! If you can't help him what good are you? Shamans are supposed to help people!" She knew this was disrespectful, but that didn't make her words less true.

"Yes, and 'help' him I will, but there is no guarantee I can 'save' him" It was a flat response. That was the end of it; there was nothing more to it. She would do what she could, but Lloyd's fate was out of her hands.

Sheena fled from the scene, to the tree outside where she could observe the house where the shaman tended to Lloyd. All she could do was pray he could get better. Well, now, that was all she could do…

Back when they journeyed together she could have saved him, she could have healed him; she knew how. But none of her magic had worked for years; all of her power, including the power to save Lloyd, was gone. Cool vessels of sadness ran swiftly down her cheeks as she watched on into the night while Lloyd prolonged his death.

"_Only you can do this Sheena" _Corrine's words. Lloyd's words. The Vice Chief's words. They haunted her as she watched helplessly as Lloyd drifted from existence.

"_I know you can do it, I believe in you" _Lloyd's words from a distant memory seemed as alive in her head as they would have been if he had said them to her. He had faith in her all that time, faith that she could save the worlds; but she couldn't save him now. His faith in her was ill placed, as she would fail him now, as she had so many others before.

"_You have to do it Sheena! Nobody else can!" _The words slashed at her heart like swords sharpened to a fine point. They weren't just true, but they were further confirmation that she was so helpless now.

"_Believe in yourself Sheena, you can do it!" _They yelled at her. "No I can't!" She screamed back, her voice conveying the extent of her agony. "I will fail…"

"_I believe in you Sheena" _Lloyd's voice circled around her head, reaching her in all the deep and dark crevices of her mind where she tried to hide herself. It broke through all of her barriers and all of her attempts to shut it out. She knew she would fail him, that his faith was going to be met with his death because of her inability, but not trying was worse.

Leaping from the tree where she had hidden herself, Sheena bound across the gate and towards the house at lightning speed. Every second she wasted was a second closer that Lloyd came to death; and she didn't know how close he was already. The open window was a grace from the heavens as she left through effortlessly and came to a halt only centimetres from where Lloyd lay dying.

She took in his almost non-existent breathing, and the sweat that poured from his head that was evidence of a fever. She really was his only chance. There was no one around for miles that could help him, and even still, they couldn't get here in time to save him now. He was close; she was lucky to have gotten here before he… and she had only been outside the town.

Nothing but pure need to help him filled her mind. Placing her hands over his body in the traditional manner, and covering as large a space of his wounds as possible, she tried to focus as she had been taught, tried to concentrate. But all she could think. Feel. Hear. See.

Need.

She needed to help him.

"_You need to do this!"_

He needed her to save him.

"_Nobody else can do this, only you can!"_

Need.

"Healing Seal!"

* * *

**Well there you have a more length chapter. We're heading into the main storylines soon, I'm sorry it's taking a while to get there, I just need to set up the circumstances of these two first, before we head straight into our adventure. Please stay tuned, and review with your comments, quiries, and criticisms. Until then, Goodbye ^^**

_Aerie Elf_

* * *


	3. The Power of an Angel?

* * *

**Aerie Elf here with another chapter for my TOS fanfic, sorry it took so long! Read, enjoy and drop me a line to let me know what you think.**

* * *

**Only Your Love Can Save Me**

_Aerie Elf_

...oOo...

**_The Power of an Angel?_**

...oOo...

Sheena's hands shook and quivered uncontrollably as she stood over Lloyd's failing body. She had the words of the seal still hanging there, as though they were frozen in time; gently looming in the ether between herself and Lloyd. Her body continued to shake without warning as Sheena pinned all of her strength into not collapsing to the floor in devastation. Her last hope, the only thing that could save Lloyd now, was now rendered powerless from her own inability.

The tears weren't single droplets of sorrow anymore; they were streams of despair that only seemed to further emphasise her hopelessness. Sheena could almost feel her heart imploding on itself, crushing and killing her from the inside. But all she could do was stand there and watch, like always, stand there with nothing to contribute to any situation.

There was nothing left for Sheena, her powers were bunk and she was powerless to save her friend. Standing there in the room with him as he slowly faded farther and farther from existence, Sheena saw the summation of her life as a failure. What was there beyond this? She couldn't save her friend from death, and this would always hold in her conscience.

She had been the cause of deaths before, but there was nothing she could do then. When first forming her pact with Volt she couldn't understand him, nor he her. All she had wanted was to help her people, and she had tried her best to do so. But nothing could help the missing link in communication, and Volt's temper was easily enraged. People, including the village Chief, were injured and even killed. But it had been beyond her power to control.

She had the power here, she just couldn't use it anymore…

It was pathetic. To her mind, hearing this thought, she almost spat at herself. Hearing all of the thoughts she had been having during this challenge that faced her, she felt ashamed. She had been so quick to give up, so quick to say 'I can't'. She sat watching in the tree until it was almost too late, and she had given up on herself before she had even spoken the incantation. She couldn't continue like this, she had to save Lloyd.

He needed her to.

Holding her hands firm over Lloyd's fading body, Sheena thought only of Lloyd, and how much he needed her now more than anything. Holding this thought closest to her heart, she whispered the words of her ancient ones: "Healing seal".

Her hands illuminated the room as a card levitated below them. The where or why of the situation was irrelevant, she just had to save Lloyd, that was all that mattered in that moment. "Please, spirits, help me" she whispered subconsciously; she had always called on their power to help her before, and lord knew she could use their help now.

Absorbed in trying to channel her magic, Sheena didn't notice the thick layer of mist that surrounded the house in which she stood. She didn't see the flashes of lightning which danced across the sky around Mizuho. She was completely unaware of everything, other than the moments passing between her and Lloyd now as he floated further away from her.

The light illuminating the room grew, larger and larger, until Sheena could barely see anything else. _"You need to do this Sheena, nobody else can!"_. Deep within her heart, there was a glimmer of warmth and light, something small which threatened to be puffed out with the smallest breath of wind. _"I'll always be with you Sheena". _The warmth began to grow in small increments; a fire's flames that licked just lightly at the sky. Spreading slowly, Sheena could feel what was happening within her, and she began to panic; what if this was death?

The glow shrunk back to a glimmer in the blink of an eye, and the glow illuminating the room ebbed to a small glow that lit Sheena's hands alone. Whether or not it was death, this was the only way to make it work; it was the only way to save Lloyd. Focusing again on his saviour, Sheena drew on the warmth, coaxing it to grow again. Gradually it grew again into a small flame which warmed Sheena from within, and the light grew to a bright beacon lighting the way back for Lloyd.

There wasn't enough power for her to fulfil the ritual, she needed more. She couldn't explain what she needed more of, only that the flame within her was connected to the light that extended out to Lloyd. Willing the flame to grow more, Sheena felt it begin to slowly shrink again, she was going to fail him after all.

"_I believe in you Sheena"._

Lloyd's words and their warmth resonated throughout Sheena's body and mind. It warmed and encouraged the fire that burned within her, causing it to grow again. This time, Sheena surrendered to the warm glow inside of her.

Like a floodgate opening; the warmth rushed throughout her body, spreading to each corner and crevice without slowing or hesitating. Soon she was filled entirely with a warmth she couldn't describe, and a glow that danced on her skin. But it wasn't enough, the power was still trapped within her; she needed to force it out.

"_I believe in you Sheena"_

Squinting her eyes shut tightly Sheena reached deep within herself again, this time forcing everything else outwards. The warm fire seemed to expand, the glow growing until Sheena shone like the stars in the sky. All she needed to do now was focus it, focus it into Lloyd.

She narrowed her focus mentally and physically to Lloyd.

:..oOo..:

Lloyd could merely open his eyes to slits, but that was an improvement over the rest of his senses. He couldn't taste anything, even the stale taste of saliva, he couldn't hear anything around him, and he couldn't feel. His body was numb entirely to everything; only his eyelids were light enough to move.

Peering out before him, Lloyd couldn't see anything but blinding light. It seared his already weak eyes and forced him to shut them in defence. Knowing that the light was there was enough to persuade Lloyd to open his eyes again; something in him searched out the source of the light.

Opening his eyes again he noticed that the light seemed to have weakened in intensity, though it still threatened to blind him. The longer he could keep his eyes open, the easier it would become to see; or at least that's what Lloyd liked to reason with himself. Eyes open and staring at a light with intensity comparable to that of a star, Lloyd was becoming more attuned to the rest of his body; it was gaining strength slowly.

Shock would have been evident on his face he was sure, except he had no strength in his muscles to move it. As the moments of unknowing and shock stretched on, so did Lloyd's feeling of presence and being. He couldn't be sure how long he had stared at the light, mere moments felt like months at this point, but now his vision was beginning to spot and fail; his eyelids threatening to close on him with exhaustion.

Lloyd kept his eyes open just long enough to catch a glimpse of a glowing figure. Slender and poised, he was sure that he had seen a woman. But before he could grasp any more collection of her image, he fell back into exhausted unconsciousness.

:..oOo..:

The incantation finished with the glowing around Sheena slowly simmering down to her hands, and then disappearing completely with the card. All she could do now was hope that it was successful, even though it had felt like a spell, and it had awoken a feeling in her she hadn't felt in a long time, she couldn't be sure that she had completely saved Lloyd until he regained consciousness.

It felt wrong to stand and watch him while he – hopefully – recovered. Sheena took her leave of the small wooden hut and disappeared from within Mizuho. Striding towards her favourite tree, she realised the remains of the storm and mists which surrounded her home town. Tears welled up in her eyes as she felt the dispersing presence of the spirits which had just aided her in saving her friend. Gratitude and longing leaked out of her tear ducts and streaked her face soundlessly; all she could do was pray that they could feel her gratitude as she felt their support now.

Climbing to the top of the tree she so loved, Sheena took in the softened texture of the trunk as the moisture from the mists seeped into its hide. It was as though the summon spirits were all one when it came to life on earth; all of them shaping and making the essences of life. Smiling proudly she continued up the tree, grateful for her own adept ability to climb; otherwise she was sure she would have met a harsh landing.

Reaching the intertwined branches that had nestled her through years of disappointment and pain, Sheena fell exhausted into the nook of the branches. Starring up at the stars, she could see that the summon spirits had withdrawl very quickly, and she couldn't help but wonder, where were they? What was going on?

Letting her exhaustion slip over her, Sheena just missed the voices in the wind that were calling to her, pleading for her to come to their aid.

* * *

**Hope you guys enjoyed it! I will try to get the next one up alot faster than this :P**

* * *


End file.
